Downhill (1927)

 

Hitch followed his first true suspense film (and the biggest financial and artistic success to date), The Lodger (1927), with a college melodrama. 

In this film, Roddy Berwick (Ivor Novello) scores the winning try at an important rugby match in his college. This makes it so that he becomes School Captain. Just everything looks like it couldn't be better for him, he is accused of misconduct by a waitress. In reality the guilty party is his good friend, Tim Wakely (Robin Irvine). Because of this he is expelled and from here his life gets worse and worse. 

This movie was based off a play of the same name. That play was written by David L'Estrange and actress Constance Collier. David L'Estrange was a pen name for Ivor Novello, who would star in the film version (he was also the star of The Lodger). Before Downhill, the two had written a play entitled The Rat. The Rat was a massive stage success and would spawn a 1925 film version which would be directed by Graham Cutts, who had previously directed multiple films on which Hitch had worked as an assistant director. That movie would be such a success that it would give way to two sequels Triumph of the Rat (1926) and The Return of the Rat (1929). Both of those movies were also directed by Graham Cutts and starred Ivor Novello. The play featured a risqué scene in which Novello was seen washing his legs after a rugby match. Critic James Agate wrote, "The scent of honest soap crosses the footlights." This scene would not make it into the movie version, but Hitch does include a scene where Novello is seen naked from the waist up.  

Despite being based on a play, this movie often jumps from setting to setting. You would think that this was a liberty that was taken to make the movie more cinematic. However, that was not the case as Hitch told Francios Truffaut (in the book long interview Truffaut did with Hitchcock), "The original play was written that way." Truffaut was naturally surprised by this statement and Hitch responded, "No, no. It was done as a series of sketches. It was a rather poor play." 

The storyline itself may be melodramatic and a little hokey but for the most part it works. Much of this is due to the main character who is immediately sympathetic and likable, even before his selfless act that sets the story in motion. This is greatly enhanced by Ivor Novello's performance. It is easy to see why he became such a massive star. At times his performance is effortlessly charming and likable, while at other times it has real dramatic weight to it. Regardless his performance is always believable and compelling. Though sometimes the hardships that meet him seem excessive, our emotional connection to this character keeps us invested in the story, even when it is at its most melodramatic. Even with the seriousness of the story, the filmmakers are able to slip in a few comedic moments as well. These comedic moments are well integrated into the story and keep it from feeling too serious or depressing. These scenes are also pretty funny. Incorporating humor into mostly serious stories, would later become almost a staple of Hitch's work and this movie provides a great example of that. However, the real star of this film remains Hitch's visual storytelling. It is amazing that this early in his career, Hitch was already a master of visual filmmaking. The visuals here are wonderful and always simply stunning to look at. Like in all the best silent films, for the most part we can tell what is happening in the story through the visual storytelling alone. In fact, this movie has quite few intertitles for a silent drama. This is very effective and a great example of what Hitch would refer to as "pure cinema." Though Hitch would often dismiss his filmmaking in these early movies, the visual storytelling here, shows Hitch as a master of the medium.

However, this movie does have its flaws. The runtime is simply longer than it needs to be, and the movie can drag at times. The ending also feels really forced and rushed. It simply strains any form of believability.  

Despite its flaws, this is a quite strong movie that tends to go overlooked in discussions and writings about Hitchcock's British movies. 

Many of Alfred Hitchcock's British films feature moments of experimental visual filmmaking that the director would abandon in his later Hollywood work. One such scene takes place in a Paris cabaret. Hitch described this scene to Truffaut. "Yes, I experimented there quite a bit. I showed a woman seducing a younger man. She is a lady of a certain age, but quite elegant, and he finds her very attractive until daybreak. Then he opens the window, and the sun comes in, lighting up the woman's face. In that moment she looks dreadful. And through the open window we see people passing by carrying a coffin." More visual experimentation showed up in the use of dream sequences. About these scenes Hitch told Truffaut, "I had a chance to experiment in those scenes. At one point I wanted to show that the young man was having hallucinations. He boarded a tiny schooner, and there I had him go down to the fo'c'sle, where the crew slept. At the beginning of his nightmare, he was in a dance hall. No dissolve, just straight cutting. He walked over to the side wall and climbed into a bunk. In those days dreams were always dissolves and they were always blurred. Though it was difficult, I tried to embody the dream in the reality, in solid, unblurred images."    

This movie would mark one of the earliest film roles for actor Ian Hunter. In a 1936 issue of Film Weekly titled My Screen Memories, Alfred Hitchcock wrote, "When I was making Downhill I started Ian Hunter on his film career simply because I saw him in a Basil Dean play at the St. Martin's theater when I was casting the film, and he happened to suit one of the roles." In a 1937 article Hitchcock wrote (titled Direction) the director remembered making a scene (that didn't make it into the movie) involving Hunter. In 1926 I made a film called Downhill, from a play by Ivor Novello, who acted in the film himself, with Ian Hunter and Isabel Jean. There was a sequence showing a quarrel between Hunter and Novello. It started as an ordinary fight; then they began throwing things at one another. They tried to pick up heavy pedestals to throw and then the pedestals bowled them over. In other words, I made it comic. I even put Hunter into a morning coat and stripped trousers because I felt that a man never looks so ridiculous as when he is well dressed and fighting. This whole scene had to be cut out; they said I was guying Ivor Novello. It was ten years before its time."

The screenplay is by Eliot Stannard, who had previously worked for Hitch on The Pleasure Garden (1925), The Mountain Eagle (1926) and The Lodger. He would go on to write for Hitch on The Farmer's Wife (1928), Easy Virtue (1928), Champagne (1928) and The Manxman (1929). 

This film's cinematographer was Claude L. McDonnell. He had previously worked on Woman to Woman (1923), The White Shadow (1924) and The Passionate Adventure (1924), all of which Hitch served as assistant director on. He would go on to work on one more Hitch movie, Easy Virtue. 

This movie marked the last film Hitch and Novello made together. MGM hired Novello and the Welsh actor traveled to Hollywood to make movies there. Unfortunately for him, after making a screen test MGM decided that his voice and appearance would not suit a Hollywood star. Instead, they hired him as a script doctor (someone who touches up flawed scripts). During his two years a script doctor, Novello worked on MGM's Tarzan pictures. He even receives a dialogue credit for Tarzan the Ape Man (1932). He opted out of his contract and moved back to England, where he returned to the stage. He would go on to become one of Britian's most successful writers of musical comedies. In 1951 he would die suddenly from a heart blockage at only 58 years old. 

Critics were greatly impressed by the visual filmmaking but found the story very poor. 

You can watch this movie below on YouTube. 

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used

Hitchcock by Francios Truffaut

The Alfred Hitchcock Story by Ken Mogg.

Hitchcock on Hitchcock Edited by Sidney Gottlieb

https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/494936/downhill#articles-reviews?articleId=1325745

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